All posts for the month June, 2006

I don’t want to get ahead of the news cycle, especially as Israel is not confirming it, but if Hamas is truly launching chemical weapons into Israel… they’re toast.

Israel’s hands are already almost-completely untied now, and there’s no indication I’m aware that the Egyptian forces massed on the border are equipped for an eastward push.

The Palestinian government (as such) using WMD on Israel will completely free their hands. The usual leftists will bleat in the EU countries (remember when the EU countries loved Israel? Oh, yeah, that was back when Israel was mostly socialist…), but nobody is going to do more than spout some hypocrisy on stage and then step back while everybody else golf-claps at the ass-kicking.

Sorry, couldn’t resist throwing out some of that. It’s like when my buddies hear me say “bling…” you can ring the cognitive dissonance like a bell.

Anyway, Spacemart has a really cool feature on a new kind of radar with all kinds of ridiculous scanning potential. Hooked up to a kick-ass image and reference database, it’s the grounds for an honest-to-god tricorder ala Star Trek…

Now, I don’t normally link the WSJ… the paper is known liberal, the commentariat known conservative. What’s more, it’s not like they’re laboring in seclusion.

But John Fund hits it out of the park pointing out the many ways in which Republican and “moderate” voters can be irritated as heck with the Elephants… but take one look at Cindy Sheehan’s Ken Doll, and shudder.

As much as they’ve made a complete hash out of getting any support at all from their own base, The Elephants couldn’t dream up a better way to stay in power during the 2006 elections.

Large predators don't give a shit what you think, and even less of one for your cutesy, prey-item view of a world where nothing ever gets hurt worse than can be handled with a band-aid and some Bactine. THEY THINK it'd be nice to lazily scrape the flesh off your femur with their sandpaper tongues.

This giant cat isn't going to break into a rousing rendition of Hakuna Matata with your kid: it's going to jump on that little kid and snap her neck like a twig. Or else, if your granddaughter's lucky, she's going to get to struggle feebly while Kitty Boo clamps down on her windpipe prior to carrying her away to some dark corner to be Kid Julienne.

Sometimes I think "bring on the Apocalypse. At least it'll clear out the morons."

Apparently our local strategy is working. Waziristani nutbags are coming to Afghanistan in order to pick up their 72 virgins or what-have-you. Check this information from Security Watchtower. One-sided doesn't begin…

Date

Location

Taliban casualties

Coalition casualties

06-24-06

Panjwayi district of Kandahar province

45 killed

2 coalition soldiers KIA

06-24-06

Village of Mirabad in Uruzgan province

40 killed

0 coalition soldiers

06-24-06

Village of Bayanzi in Kandahar province

25 killed

0 coalition soldiers

06-14-06

Ziruk district of Paktika province

26 killed

1 Afghan police wounded

06-14-06

Helmand Province

12 killed

1 U.S. Soldier KIA

06-11-06

Siachave village in Uruzgan province

15 killed

0 Coalition soldiers

06-11-06

Saidan village in Kandahar province

12 killed

0 Coalition soldiers

06-11-06

Sangin district of Helmand province

10 killed

1 British soldier KIA & 2 wounded

06-11-06

Nowzad village in Helmand province

21 killed

0 British soldiers

06-10-06

Arghandab district of Zabul province

30 killed

0 Coalition soldiers

06-09-06

Tarin Kowt in Helmand province

13 killed

0 Afghan Army

06-07-06

Uruzgan province

13 killed

2 U.S. soldiers wounded

06-07-06

Helmand province

5 killed

0 Coalition soldiers

06-02-06

Chori village in Uruzgan province

20 killed

0 U.S. or Afghan soldiers

06-02-06

Miana Shien in Kandahar province

12 killed

4 Afghan police wounded

05-29-06

Kajaki district

50 killed

0 Coalition soldiers

05-26-06

Qal'a Sak village in Helmand province

5 killed

0 U.S. soldiers

05-24-06

Tarin Kowt in Helmand province

24-60 killed

4 Afghan army soldiers & 1 Afghan police officer KIA

05-22-06

Azizi village in Kandahar province

50-60 killed

0 U.S. soldiers

05-18-06

Musa Qala district of Helmand province

40 killed

13 Afghan police officers KIA

05-18-06

Panjwai district of Kandahar province

18 killed

1 Canadian soldier KIA

05-15-06

Panjwai district of Kandahar province

11 killed

5 Afghan police officers KIA

04-24-06

Miana Shein in Kandahar province

5 killed

1 Afghan soldier KIA

04-18-06

Dukah village in Kandahar province

8 captured

0 Coalition soldiers

04-15-06

Qalat district of Zabul province

14 killed

0 Afghan police officers

04-14-06

Sartak village in Kandahar province

41 killed

6 Afghan police officers KIA

04-05-06

Sangin district of Helmand province

12 captured

0 Coalition soldiers

There's additional information in the post. It's apparent that we need to gradually continue to strengthen the Afghan troops' capabilities. They're doing well, but not as well as everybody'd like (unless, of course, you're a Waziristani nutbag).

The greater significance of this, that you're not going to hear on NPR or CNN, is that every single one of these guys who gets wiped out is one less guy who might be helping to make Pakistan proper even less stable than it is, and one less guy to strangle his daughter to death for an honor crime or go on a murder vacation in Kashmir, throwing vitriol in women's faces and generally butchering anybody who isn't just like them.

So next time you hear one of those news programs refer to "ongoing violence in Uruzgan province," that's not quagmire talking, that's our side whipping the crap out of the enemy.

And if not, what could possibly compel him to allow his lawyer to threaten the Sunlight Foundation with libel over a real-estate suit, thus guaranteeing that the blogosphere will break out the popcorn and follow everything his counsel does with a magnifying glass?

To begin with, Hastert's counsel has a ridiculously weak argument.

But beyond that, allowing anybody to send out something containing this passage

When it comes to the reputation of Speaker Hastert, there are no idle threats. Instead, there is corrective action – either voluntary or compelled.

… when any moron could predict that it was going to go public, is just beyond comprehension: unless Hastert is an idiot who has lost all touch with how politics works. On the one hand, yes, folks inside the Beltway tend to lose their perspective on how the rest of the country operates… but on the other, one would expect a keener response from somebody in his position.

We're discovering that this "culture of corruption" cuts through both parties in Congress. This is one of the areas in which the blogosphere has much to crow about… Congresscritters who regard their safety in terms of legal action ignore the very real threat that public mockery and scorn present to their careers.

To start with, I'm going to start paraphrasing that stupid quote at every possible instance, just because it's so damned hilarious. It's almost as bad as "nuclear power is our obvious right" over in Tehran…

When it comes to the reputation of William Jefferson, there are no idle bribes, Instead, there are freezerfulls of cash — either recovered or unrecovered."

When it comes to the reputation of Daily Kos, there are no electoral victories. Instead, there is collective fundraising — either soft or hard cash."

…

I'm seriously thinking of offering a $20 gift certificate to the winner, except I can't think of a nationwide restaurant chain known for its pork dishes…

I was playing a game a while ago, and my buddy asked "is Thorium real?"

You betcha, bay-bee. FuturePundit says it's coming soon, too, to a reactor near you. I'm going to see if I can con my Dad into commenting here, since he's a real-live nuclear engineer, and my degrees are all in the squishy liberal arts, but as I understand it, the increased safety bar puts this sufficiently far into "Good Thing" territory that we might be able to use them on a widespread basis as a counterweight to the "energy powers" using oil to prop up their various tyrannies.

You know, it's one thing to object to illegal aliens' financial burden on the nation's hospitals (locally, Parkland Hospital is said on the news to be planning to bill Mexico directly, mwahaha), and it's another to remark on how unfair giving these folks special treatment is, compared to the degrading way we treat potential legal emigrants.

But apparently, some guy Corsi thinks that George Bush is secretly creating the North American Union. Yes, the link goes to WorldNetDaily. I'm not proud of it, but it was a heck of a lot better than some of the places this story was linked up to. There's not enough hydrogen peroxide to scrub my brain clean from some of these sites…)

To which I say heartily, "yawn."

For starters, let's look at the facts:

It can't be secret if it's powerful enough to affect anything.

We'd get cane sugar for once in our soft drinks, rather than this corn-syrup crap.

Look at all your scifi: none of us get flying cars until the NAU or its equivalent is in play.

So, since we all want our flying cars, let's egg him on…

UPDATE: Apparently is has something to do with this, which is, point to say, seriously old news. But it's got a cool map, and even lists the City of Denton on it. So, you know, it's gotta involve space aliens and fluoride in the water…

Which the IC can choose to honor, or can choose not to honor, and instead face the repercussions. Since the Islamic Courts is not a homogenous group, it will get interesting when one group among them is seen as bringing them trouble for failing to hand over outsiders.

Outsiders get short shrift in Somalia. Going to get (more) interesting.

For starters, my Granddad, at least, much as I love him, would have been thoroughly outclassed. Recent changes are seriously putting the hurt on conscripts and amateur hour, and beginning to flip the pendulum back to training, and against mass as a primary determinant.

For instance, much as we wiped the walls with the Somalis in the Battle of Mogadishu… imagine that one going off nowadays.

Which, unfortunately, means that asymmetrics is going to be the way of the future for those poor misunderstood members of the Rebel Alliance…